Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Nothing special to "lead" the blog this morning. Just a hopscotch of somewhat interesting storylines to be tracking...

CWS: How can you NOT be rooting for the CWS-newbie UC-Irvine Anteaters, who won in extra innings for the second straight game?

NFL, union cozy up on concussions: Yay, we all agree that concussions are terrible for the sport. (And, presumably, in 10-15 years when we realize there's even MORE damage to players from playing, they'll modify it again.)

Will Tiger play the Buick next week? SHOULD Tiger play the Buick next week? This is sort of like "Should LeBron play in Game 5 of the Finals if his wife is giving birth," except (a) Tiger's baby will already be a few weeks old, and (b) in LeBron's case, it turned out to be a VERY moot point. I think Tiger is in the clear to play, especially because Buick is one of his biggest sponsors. How else will little Sam ride in that Bugaboo if Daddy Tiger doesn't make the money to pay for it? And it's not like he's missing Sam's birth to play in the tournament. My only thing is that if his first few weeks were any like mine (or any parents), he'll be exhausted – but guiltily probably happy to get out of the house for a few days. (Did I just say that? Eh: Yeah, I did.)

More Tiger: Here's a great prop bet – 10,000-to-1 that Sam will win more major titles than Tiger. And 50-to-1 that Sam will be on the LPGA tour. (Yes, but what are the odds that she'll be on the PGA Tour?) All odds via USA Today via Ladbroke.

Orioles interview Joe Girardi: This seems like a natural fit. How long will it take to make it official?

(By the way, I was at Coors Field last night -- my first trip to that park... or Denver, for that matter. What a beautiful setting. And, since the Yankees were in town, the place was unusually packed and full of energy. Oh, and Yankees fans. It was at least 50/50. But "Stud" to Coors Field anyway.)

MLB Dud: Randy Johnson has some kind of herniated disk in his back. And Dontrelle Willis had to leave the game last night with a forearm strain.

Schilling Watch: An MRI might show no structural damage to his shoulder. But what else could explain his sorry pitching of late? Oh, right: How about, "He just don't got it right now."

(Better news for Red Sox pitching: Beckett won his 10th.)

Vick Scandal Update: Nike cares more about Michael Vick than it does about criticism from the Humane Society. It remains to be seen whether Vick's problems translate into fewer shoe sales or a negative p.r. image as it relates to him promoting Nike products.

NBA Draft: What about Yi? Will Yi Jianlian drop to the Sixers at No. 12? Why else would Philly go to a private Yi workout in SoCal yesterday?

NBA Coaching: Kings hire Theus. Today's drinking game (coffee or soda only). Take a sip every time a blogger references the old Saturday-morning TV show "Hang Time" when talking about Reggie Theus joining the Kings.

NBA Trade Rumors: I was disappointed to learn that the rumor of Antawn Jamison for Shawn Marion was bunk.

Wie drops out of Deere: This is a smart move for Michelle. Not only is there a backlash, but her game is WAY off. The last thing she would need is to embarrass herself against a field of men.

Sports Media: Mike and Mike continue their takeover. They will be in the booth (along with Mike Ditka – "Mike and Mike and Mike," apparently) for the second Monday Night Football game of the season-opening weekend. Hey, Jaworski was on the 2nd team a year ago and look at him now. Watch your back, TK...

Speaking of new dads, Jeff Gordon's wife is due any minute now. Wow: Big week for sports-celebrity baby-watching.

Steroid Watch: Florida will test prep football players (along with basketball players and weightlifters) for steroids on a random basis in a new one-year test program. THAT should be very interesting to track.

R.I.P., Terry Hoeppner, Indiana football coach. Condolences to family, friends and fans. Though Hoeppner had been sick for a while, this reminds me of when Northwestern's Randy Walker unexpectedly died a year ago in the summer. In an eerie coincidence, both were head coaches at Miami of Ohio before taking over their Big Ten rebuilding projects. There are several good remembrance posts about Hoeppner. Here's one.

Bias, belatedly: Maybe it was because I was on the road yesterday, but I missed mentioning the anniversary of the death of Len Bias, my favorite player of all time. His death remains the most visceral sports memory of my lifetime.

Let's give a stud to Coco Crisp for another unreal catch last night. You have to see the view from behind home plate they showed of that catch not only was the catch amazing but seeing how ground he covered to get to the ball adds to the amazement.

Sheildz be positive, with McPhail in charge (as long as Angelos let's him make the decisions) and if girardi takes the manager position the O's have a good chance of becoming a contender for 3rd place in the AL East in the next 2 - 3 years

The best part of that highlight package ESPN ran was seeing Alex Cora put up his arm about a full second before Coco actually caught the ball, just as Crisp was starting his dive. It's like they're expecting Crisp to make the catch every time.

If the guy could hit even a little more consistently, he'd be getting comparisons to Andruw, Damon, or maybe even a young Jr. Too bad he'll never be much more than a .260/10/40 guy with outstanding defensive capabilities.

You are a good example as to why none of the real Rockies fan were at the game last night. A lot of us season ticket holders sold our tickets to this series for 2 reasons...1. It paid for 1/3 of my season tickets.2. Who wants to go to a home game with the stadium filled with annoying (mostly phony) Yankee fans and/or Denverites who want to be part of the "scene".

My point is that if you want to get a real feel for what it is like to come to Coors Field and a Rockies game, come during any other series.

Last little comment / prediction before I have to actually go do some "work":

Tigers/Nationals tonight... Jeremy Bonderman throws another Detroit no-hitter. The way he's been pitching, combined with the putrid hitting of Nationals' players not named Dmitri Young, it's like a perfect storm.

For the frist time in my life, I've got money on a baseball prop bet - taking the Under of Washington hits (Currently at 5.5) and hoping to ride the money all the way to Vegas. Or at least to the airport to pay for the flight.

Last year was the big 20 year anniversery of Bias' death. Bill Simmons wrote a great column on it several years ago. I was 16 at the time and heard about it on the radio. I remember Don and Mike, the DJs, being all serious and trying to convince the listeners they werent playing a sick joke. I was in shock and went out and shot hoops for like 5 hours.

Nike cares little for human rights, why would they care about animal rights?

Miami University is the Cradle of Coaches for a good reason. Great men go from that program to lead others to success. It's very saddening that Miami has lost two of the coaches that brought great influence to my college experience (Coach Walk and Coach Hep). We also lost Bo. This sucks.

I went to Indiana's rival, Purdue, and I am diehard football fan of the Boilermakers. Still, I respected Hoepnner for hte fact he was making our rivalry relevant again. Purdue has won of the last ten against IU, often in blowout fashion. Yesterday morning I was crying when I found out he had passed, and had to write my own piece on my Purdue football blog.

HA! Too bad the Rockies only have about 10,000 "real" fans left. Just look at the attendance figures for this season - nobody goes to Rockies games. Probably about 30,000 of the 50,000 seats where bought by brokers, Yankee fans, and people who haven't gone to another game this season. No matter what, the people at Coors Field for this Yankees series would be Yankee fans and/or Denverite schmucks.

It's the same in Milwaukee when the Cubs come, Dan. I feel your pain. Though the Brewers are drawing a lot more than in years past, I can say that I have been to games with attendance just over 10,000.

There is no way I would sell my tickets to invading fans though. That was my main point.

One has to admire what the Eaters are doing in the CWS, but the Devils (and Pat Murphy) choked that one away last night, and played pretty horrible the entire CWS.Apropos of Coors Field; beautiful ballpark, great sports town, but with respect to Peter Angelos (a truly horrific owner), the Monforts in Denver have to be considered as the worst owners in the sport. They turned a good baseball city (going back to the Denver Bears and Zephyrs) into a wasteland with their bad drafting, bad contracts and bad choice in management.

I disagree on the bad drafting point about the Rockies, especially recently, when the Rockies have had very good drafts, and had the 2nd highest rated farm system according to Baseball America.

Also they have a pretty good young hitting core with Holliday, Atkins, and Hawpe that is already good, and Tulo is already a sweet defensive SS. Francis is also one of the more underrated starters in the game, and Josh Fogg can occassionally put it together with his pretty good stuff.

But as far as the Helton and Hampton contracts, those were so debilitating for that franchise.

Billy King's plan is to ruin the entire rebuilding process in Philly by trading up for Yi. I say maybe at 7 if he's still there. I hope not though. There is no guarantee he'll even be able to come over here.

If I was Giradi, I would do what many people have said on here, wait for Torre to get fired or quit. Even if this season goes well, you can't imagine that Torre wants another year of this crap. his team is getting older and so is he. This would be a better job given the Boss's free spendng nature than Angelos style.

The four-time Nextel Cup series champion and his wife Ingrid Vandebosch became the parents of a daughter, Ella Sofia Gordon, at 9:09 a.m. Wednesday. Ella weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long, Gordon said on his Web site.

"It's been an absolutely incredible experience," Gordon said. "Ingrid came through amazingly and we're both really happy and overjoyed. We can't wait to get home and start our lives together as a family."

The timing of Ella's arrival means Gordon will be able to qualify and race in this weekend's Nextel Cup series event at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Gordon, the current Nextel Cup series leader, had asked Mark Martin to sub for him in case the birth of his daughter prevented him from being at the track to qualify or race.

You're a better man than me, and probably one with deeper pockets. I have season tickets because I love baseball, not necessarily because I can afford it. When 3 games of tickets pay for 1/3 of your season, it's hard to say no (not to mention, that was part of the deal so my wife would allow me to purchase season tickets in the first place).

Connect With Me

Quickish

About This Blog

DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.